


Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

by lunareclair



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fantasy, Friends to Lovers, Introspection, Past Abuse, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-12 20:22:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17474369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunareclair/pseuds/lunareclair
Summary: They say the best blaze burns brightest when circumstances are at their worst. When things go south in Zuzu City, Haru decides to put those words to the test.





	Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

**Author's Note:**

> although my writing isn't particularly graphic in depictions of abuse, please pay mind to the tag! if you believe you are a victim, please contact the national domestic violence hotline or inform a trusted friend. thanks for reading!
> 
> p.s. this is my first time writing on here and i was a bit nervous publishing it, so please be kind with comments!

Tabula rasa is a simple notion: humans are blank slates.

When Haru turned twelve, her grandfather believed she was mature enough to grasp the complexities of the tabula rasa theory and imparted an unforgettable piece of knowledge to her. Since then, she was able to gather that the vicious nature of humans was a consequence of existing in a world defined by malice. That being a human was daunting, because their hearts could easily be tainted by the malevolence that plagues the Earth. It fascinated her in a way math couldn't, and she held it close to her heart when life became taxing.

She reminded herself that her parents were the way they were because they had tapped into their rancor, which subsequently blackened their hearts. It occurred to her that people like them didn't have a say in how the world treated them, and she couldn't hate them when it was life that failed them. To suffer is to live. And by extension, to know love is to know pain. The answer to her unstable relationship was as simple as that.

Until she discovered her boyfriend lazily strewn across another woman.

Her mind mechanically repeated that pain was a part of love. Once, then twice. More often than not, it worked, and they would kiss and make up. But as she felt the foundation of their love crack beneath her, she quickly realized that not even her convictions could save their decaying romance.

"Well, we're in quite the pickle," he purred, sliding out of bed. "Would you believe me if I said this was a misunderstanding, blossom?"

Her body impulsively flinched at the nickname, an innocent pet name spoiled by the circumstances of the situation before her. The one where he abandoned the girl's side to take a calculated step toward Haru, gaze boring into her core. Gray orbs so icy that she shivered, and bile fought its way up her throat. But did she not have the right to be furious? Was there not a random woman in their bed—no,  _his_  bed buttoning up her shirt and sporting a sour look as she flicked a strand of auburn hair out of her face?

_I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared._

Every fight started and ended with her being in the wrong, whether it was true or not. With time, she learned that protesting did her no good and set her brain on autopilot whenever she heard the slam of a door. It was how man survived, by compromising their comfort to comply with others in order to save themselves from conflict. Their countless fights reminded her of their power imbalance, that he was the man in charge, and she was simply his dutiful girlfriend. She should have known better than to say—

"I don't believe you."

Her chest constricted as the words slipped out, a mistake that caused the trepidation of her actions to cloud her mind, feet scuffling as her body lurched forward and into the hallway. He trailed behind her like predator and prey, regurgitating the same excuses over and over, only to be drowned out by her choked sobs. And when his fingers curled around her wrist, she tore her arm away and shoved him as hard as she could. A sporadic mixture of defiance flashed in her eyes as he stumbled backwards with a grunt, a moment of courage that quickly vanished in a snap at the sound of his fist slamming on the wall. She reminded herself that he couldn't hurt her. Not with company.

Then the front door clicked shut. 

 

 

The following morning, Haru treated every movement with careful consideration. A morning kiss to convey her contrition, straightening his silk tie, and a kiss goodbye as they parted ways at Joja Corporation. Pleased with her compliance, he turned his back under the impression she'd be home by six.

Then came the envelope, a gift fastened with a purple wax seal, and her ticket out of the worst two years of her life. The one her grandfather explicitly instructed her not to open until the time was right. And as time had it, when her bright spirit did begin to fade, she finally yanked the top desk drawer open. Remaining untouched for just short of three years, the envelope has accumulated so much dust that it made Haru sneeze when she tore it open. 

The letter conjured up something she hadn't seen in a long while, and in an impulsive fit out of the dwindling spontaneity left in her heart, Haru ended up slapping a letter of resignation on her manager's desk, whose jaw dropped at the loss of his employee of three years. A giggle escaped her lips as she exited the elevator and presented Joja's Corporation with the gift of her middle finger, fading into shrill laughter that echoed the disposition of an asinine eighteen-year-old girl. Transformed by a childlike ecstasy, she withdrew her entire bank balance from an ATM, knowing that the bank would notify Elijah, tossed her personal belongings into a duffle bag, and dared to dip into his lock box of cash. In the moment, she was so sure in her decision.

That is, until Haru heaved into a toilet in the bathroom of one of Zuzu City's busiest bus stations, accompanied by the humming of incandescent light fixtures and hurried footsteps of bystanders.

When her nausea finally subsided, she wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand and stumbled out of the bathroom stall, followed by her phone violently vibrating against her hip. The sound nearly made her lunge for the toilet a second time. 

While it was apparent who was desperately trying to contact her, and the voice in her head screamed at her not to answer, she found herself making the mistake of checking. A senseless moment of weakness, born from her reflexes under the stipulation that her lack of response would land her a new set of bruises the moment the door to their high-rise apartment cracked open. And sure enough, Haru was greeted by a set of expected notifications that pulsed with animosity. 

**ELIJAH COSMOS**

_Missed Call (5)_

To no surprise, he was irate. And when his calls failed to reach her, he took to texting.

 **ELIJAH COSMOS** _5m ago_

__Did you lose your mind, or did you just quit your_  
__job _on a whim?__ _ _

**ELIJAH COSMOS** _4m ago_

 __You're a fucking crazy bitch. You think acting__  
__erratic is going to change anything?__

 **ELIJAH COSMOS**   _now_

_I'm leaving work early to come home._

A part of her was relieved she didn't have to hear her voice, that the only thing she had to hear from his was the messages clogging up her phone. One of his many talents included inducing a malaise that crowded her thoughts and left her shoulders heavy with guilt, but texts didn't have the authority of spoken words. So she sent a final text back. 

 ****HARU YASUTAKE** ** _now_

_i'm not coming home._

And with that, her phone was set to silent as the last nail in the coffin of her life in Zuzu City. A sense of liberation washed over Haru, and she nervously laughed to herself, until the reality of her actions sunk in and the triumph of her actions was overshadowed by dread. When she realized she couldn't turn back, her hands began to uncontrollably tremble, haunted eyes flicking over to her ghastly reflection in the mirror. A sight so unseemly that it elicited a breathy sigh from Haru as she rolled up her sleeves and planted her hands on the sink to steady herself.

Rather than dwell on the malicious texts blowing up her phone, Haru needed to focus on the person before her. The pale one that mimicked her every move, every mundane expression, yet bore no resemblance to girl she saw two years ago. Hazel irises once bright with ambition had grown dimmer with time, just as dull as her brown hair, and she wondered if there was even a spark left to salvage. Not to mention, even in the poorly lit bathroom, the fresh bruises littering her arms were incredibly hard to ignore without her corduroy jacket concealing them. Her fingers barely brushed against the tender skin, only to be greeted by a pang of familiar pain shooting up her arm, to which she laughed bitterly. She was a dog licking its wounds, wondering how she ended up in such a precarious situation.

No one was going to save her. There was no such thing as prince charming, or a knight in shining armor. This was reality, and if she wanted out, she would have to do it herself.

That meant no turning back, no more morning kisses, and no more being suffocated by his strong arms. Even if her gaiety had faded into rationale, even if her knees couldn't stop shaking with each step she took, she would not turn back. A concoction of valor, anxiety, and hesitance bubbled in her chest, new but far less foreboding than the pit she felt in her stomach when Elijah moved his hand over hers.

Gross.

Her nerves tightened the way guitar strings do when plucked, and she leaned forward to splash her face with cold water to get the image out of her brain. There was no use dwelling on the past, no matter how distant it might be, and she decided to venture outside to clear her mind.

Greeted by the crisp air of spring, she fished her grandfather's letter out of her pocket, crudely folded up in a rush, and settled at a curb. If she wanted to remind herself why she was at the bus station in the first place, the letter would surely do the trick. Reading it over, may it be more than four or five times, never seemed to fail. 

The letter was a reminder that regardless of time, her grandfather still loved her, even with how distant she grew. Even after the incident at the lake. A reminder of how much he cared for her, as well as the impactful lessons he passed on. Like he knew this would happen to her, maybe not her exact situation, but he knew that she would need a way out. More importantly, he had given her the opportunity to start over with a nearly blank slate. A second chance, and it would all start with that farm.

On top of that, there was something about the paper that smelled vaguely of the valley flora despite its time in her desk drawer, as if her grandfather meant to send her a piece of his farm. Or maybe it was the blue ink, to remind her of the days she spent lying on grassy hills, staring at the clear skies before her grandfather called her back inside.

 _Dear Haru,_ the letter began began. _If you're reading this, you must be in dire need a change._

To her relief, the burning in her gut seemed to wane, her head subconsciously nodding as she read further. The tornado of thoughts wreaking havoc on her mind dwindled until there was nothing left but debris and the goal to leave the city. In fact, the world wasn't so scary knowing he was in a situation similar to hers. Not held back by a relationship, but his life back in his home country. Like her, he had grown tired of the city, although he was an accountant at the time. Still, he quit his job on the spur of the movement and began his journey overseas in a little place called Pelican Town. He cultivated the sweetest peaches, met her grandmother, and eventually had her mother. Then Haru was born.

Once she was finished reading, there was nothing to do beside send an email to the aforementioned Mayor Lewis. Something along the lines of "sorry for the wait, I'm finally coming to inherit the farm with no farming experience." Her train of thought quickly switched over to the to-do list building up in her head, how she might not have the grit to farm, only to be interrupted by a bus screeching to a halt in front of Haru. The bi-fold doors parted with a hiss to reveal a bus driver chewing gum like nobody's business.

"You goin' to Stardew Valley?" the woman asked with a loud pop of her pink bubblegum.

"...Yeah," was all she could muster as she presented her ticket.

She raised a brow. "Hop on, kid. I don't got all day."

With a nod, Haru hastily climbed up the bus stairs, greeted by nothing but empty chairs. Wordlessly, she gave the bus driver another nod as if to say hello, then found a seat at the back of the bus and dropped her bag at her feet. She didn't sit quite yet, propped on the edge of her seat as she carefully watched the doors let out another hiss as they closed. A part of her feared that Elijah would stop the bus by prying the doors apart, dragging her off and all the way home. Yet nothing happened, and the bus began to move.

Only when Zuzu City disappeared from her sight did she feel safe enough to sink into her seat, wrapping her arms around herself. She was glad to no longer be trembling, carrying nothing but the weight of her decision in her hands. With a sigh, her heart settled, and she decided to watch the white lines on the road until her eyes drifted closed. Enveloping herself in a warm memory, she recalled a winter night with her grandfather, peeling oranges around the crackling fireplace as her favorite movie played in the background.

"They say the best blaze burns brightest when circumstances are at their worst," he told her. "Remember that, Haru."

After eleven years, the meaning had finally sunk in. 

 

**STARDEW VALLEY**

**0.5 MI.**


End file.
